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030 Were there synagogues while the Temple still stood in Jerusalem? Nearly 200 ancient synagogues have been discovered by archaeologists at numerous sites in the Land of Israel as well as in the diaspora. After the Roman destruction of the...

062 Shlomo Moussaieff of Herzliya, Israel, and London, England, who owned the world’s largest private collection of Near Eastern antiquities, surpassing that of many major museums, died in Israel on June 29, 2015, at the age of 92. To the...

052 This is the story of the re-erection of two ancient Herodian columns—one Doric, the other Ionic—on the basis of the principle of anastylosis at the archaeological site of Machaerus in Jordan. Machaerus, of course, is the dramatic Dead Sea...

035 The Bible tells us that the doors of the inner shrine of Solomon’s Temple had five mezuzot (singular mezuzah) (1 Kings 6:31). Whatever they were, the Bible is not referring to the little parchment texts in a case posted on the...

059 The world’s oldest and most authoritative copy of the Hebrew Bible reposed for more than half a millennium in a synagogue in Aleppo, Syria, before it was desecrated in riots that followed the United Nations vote in 1947 calling for a Jewish...

Although the famous “Brother of Jesus” inscription on an ancient ossuary (bone box) has been authenticated by two world-class paleographers, American paleographer Christopher Rollston has judged the inscription 75–85 percent a forgery on an Easter-time TV program. Is his judgment based solely on his predilection against unprovenanced inscriptions?

032 Every year they come—from diverse corners of the world and different walks of life: students, professionals, enthusiasts, retirees, travel lovers, adventure seekers and more. They put their lives on hold for a couple of weeks or even months,...

045 I want to say here and now how grateful I am to the original team of Dead Sea Scroll scholars who failed to publish the bulk of the scrolls for nearly 40 years and refused to let other scholars see them in the meantime. But for them, I...

Duke professors Eric and Carol Meyers gained national prominence when they discovered the Torah ark at Nabratein, Israel, in 1981. But that’s only part of their story. On December 22, 2014, I sat down and talked to them about their past 40 years in Biblical archaeology.

043 What do the Dead Sea Scrolls tell us about the New Testament? One possible answer is: Nothing. The scrolls were associated with a relatively small group, or, rather, with several small groups.a Other Jewish people, like the first Christians,...

031 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine...

045 After two decades toiling in the quiet groves of academe, I published an article in BAR titled “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible.”a The enormous interest this article generated was a complete surprise to me. Nearly 40 websites...

038 Tracy Hoffman, 1994 The first time I picked up an issue of Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) featuring “Dig Opportunities at a Glance,” I was a freshman in college. I remember opening the magazine, reading about the archaeological...

Two hundred years after Constantine Tischendorf’s birth, questions remain as to the conditions of his removal of Codex Sinaiticus from St. Catherine’s Monastery. Stanley E. Porter contends that Tischendorf should be considered a hero, not a thief.

055 Although he is not an archaeologist, Canadian/Israeli TV journalist and producer Simcha Jacobovici (pronounced Yacobovitch) has made some remarkable archaeological discoveries. For example, the first plague: When pharaoh refused to let the...

046 New analysis of a previously known scrap of a Biblical text provides fascinating insight into the formation of the Hebrew Bible. Known as the Ashkar-Gilson Hebrew Manuscript #2, the text is a remnant of a Torah scroll from the seventh or...

042 In late spring, 1349 B.C., the chariot of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten drew up in an open space before a dazzling white inscription on a cliff face overlooking the Nile. There Akhenaten and his queen Nefertiti made lavish offerings to the...